Batey, Wahls feeling at home at Coe College

CEDAR RAPIDS - Three years ago, Kalynn Batey and Mady Wahls were two of the best girls basketball players in Henry County. Now, they share the court as Kohawks, playing college basketball for NCAA Division III Coe College in Cedar Rapids.

Batey was a four-year starter for Mt. Pleasant. She finished as one of the team's top three scorers in three of those years, eclipsing 10 points per game as a junior and a senior.

Batey joined the Kohawks last season as a freshman.

'It's a lot faster,” Batey says. 'College basketball is a lot more like AAU basketball than it is in high school. It's a lot harder no matter what division it is; college ball is college ball. You've got to be disciplined.”

Batey was joined by Wahls, who originally teamed up with another Mt. Pleasant graduate, Sarah Moffett, at Mt. Mercy University, just four minutes away from the Coe College campus. Wahls says she was sure Coe was where she really wanted to be.

'I just didn't like that atmosphere at Mt. Mercy as much as Coe,” Wahls says. 'I had originally chose to go to Coe to play, so I decided that I just wanted to transfer where I was more happy. I really enjoy being around the girls, and the coaches and school. It's such a family atmosphere.”

And it didn't hurt to have a few familiar faces coming into the Coe College system. Wahls played with Batey as well as another teamate, Crestwood's Brynn Boderman, in AAU ball for Iowa Prep.

'There's definitely an advantage to that, I think,” Batey says. 'There's me, Brynn and Mady that all came, and there's a freshman too that played on Iowa Prep. So we've all been taught the same coaching principals and we're all used to that. We're used to how each other played on the court, and we're good at talking and knowing where the other girls will be on the court.”

Playing at Coe also helps both Batey and Wahls stay close to home. For Wahls, who transferred to New London for her senior year of high school, that means helping father Chad Wahls, who is in his second year of coaching the Tiger girls high school basketball team.

'I try to help them out in practice when I'm off and stuff in the afternoon, and get girls in the gym,” Wahls says. 'A lot of them are really open to (say) ‘Hey, can you work with me?' And I put a couple of girls through workouts in the summer.”

The two were able to make a bit of a homecoming on Dec. 18, when Coe came to play at Iowa Wesleyan for a nonconference game. The game was especially special to Batey, who was not only playing in Mt. Pleasant for the first time since high school, but also playing against former teammate Maddie Williamson.

'I was very nervous to play here,” Batey said. 'But it's also really nice to have friends and family, and to be home, so it was a good nervous.”

Both Batey and Wahls, who are currently getting minutes off the bench for the Kohawks, found the box score in a 91-48 Coe College win. Batey finished the night with eight points, two rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. Wahls had three points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Much like the rest of the local basketball teams, Coe's women are just getting back from winter break and ready to play more basketball. The Kohawks take a 6-4 record into Rock Island, Illinois tonight, for a game against Augustana College.